Stardate not given: Janeway and Chakotay contract a virus on the surface of a planet. The Doctor has to put them in stasis but after 17 days he has still not found a cure. Only the environmental conditions of the planet can keep the two alive. So Janeway makes the decision that she and Chakotay stay behind on the planet and Voyager continues its journey under the command of Tuvok. Tuvok has explicit order not contact the Vidiians with their advanced medical technology, and he enforces this order against the rest of the crew. On the bridge, Harry contradicts Tuvok's orders and suggests to obtain an antiviral agent from the Vidiians in exchange for a Klingon DNA sample, whereupon Tuvok temporarily relieves him of duty. On the planet, Janeway continues her research to find an antivirus, while Chakotay focuses on making it a more agreeable place to live. A plasma storm, however, destroys all of Janeway's research. Kes eventually convinces Tuvok to contact Danara Pel, the Vidiian woman who was romantically involved with the Doctor. Danara agrees to provide an antivirus, but is unaware that her people set up a trap and attack Voyager. As it is not possible for Voyager to survive without shields during the battle, Tuvok devises a maneuver that allows Voyager to disable the enemy ships after dropping the shields, by detonating an antimatter container with a photon torpedo. After securing the antivirus, Voyager returns to the planet where Janeway has just begun to put up with her situation.

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